LP12

[Grumpytim]

I have done a bit of work on my fruitbox

I bought it for £150 in year 2000. Came with a lingo 1 and it's one of the last ones made before the cirkus was rolled out. Still got original bearing and motor as it got very little use by me and its previous owner. I haven't played a record on it for 10 years. Only thing I added to it was a Naim Aro in 2006.

I'm not interested in spending any money on it but before I joined this forum in 2017 I bought an Avondale Audio Taps2 psu to replace the lingo and a Audioflat Rubikon subchassis, both second hand. Later I bought some Anologue innovation in sole spring replacements. None of these were ever fitted and my deck sat under an inch of dust.

Fast forward and I got the urge to have a play with it. So I removed the cross brace so I could get the sub chassis out.

With cross brace dangling down and the full crapness of stock steel sub chassis and springs in view


The armboard and pressed steel chassis came out easy enough. Aro arm base was swapped over to the rubikon chassis and the springs replaced with in sole mushrooms .

[karatestu]

It was absolute childs play to set this thing up although I haven't quite finished. The arm board more or less centred itself in the cut out i only had to adjust the height on each of the three down bolts.



I can' t believe what a doddle it was. No messing about with springs and grommets and faffing about to get a pistonic bounce and the other bollox that goes along with this deck usually.

There is hardly any movement when you push on the platter or armboard. The AI mushrooms do compress but you have to really push down to see any movement. There is hardly any swinging side to side of the arm board in its cutout so I am going to dispense with the usual arm cable clamped in the p clip. Bollox to it. I had to destroy the old p clip anyway to get the arm cables out when dismantling.

I have re fitted the cross brace with the lingo pcb attached to it. I am going to try it with the lingo first before moving on to trying the Avondale Taps2 psu in due course.

Need to fit the aro on its base and make sure everything is absolutely level before checking vta etc and giving it a whirl. I hope the Lyra Argo cartridge is still OK, it was quite expensive when I bought it 16 or so years ago (£700).

I don't intend to do owt else to it when this has been done except maybe get a new mat and fart about with little tweaks.

[Fretless]

Farting about! Like it , Stu.

[antonio66]

Well I think somebody did a slight fuck up with the Rubikon sub chassis unless I am missing a part The mounting hole for the aro in the armboard - the armboard is not as thick as the old wood composite ones made by linn. You put the arm base in the hole from the top and then screw a nut on the bottom. It's hard to explain but the nut only travels so far along the thread and does not clamp the arm base to the armboard in anyway tight enough. It wobbles about. So I have had to use a washer under the nut. It now clamps up Linn tight

The other slight niggle is the bearing mounting bolts. The Rubikon is thicker than the stock pressed steel jobbie where the bearing is bolted on. The old bolts were not long enough so I had to find some longer ones from my stash. Not a big deal. Also had to find some bolts to attach the arm lead pug as the old ones were more like screws.

One more thing. Why did they put the Rubikon motif the wrong bloody way. I'd rather it wasn't there at all but hey ho. I really should have bought a sole sub chassis made by Analogue Innovation (John R) but I didn't know him af the time and I can't be arsed selling this one. So I will make do with what I have got. My Rubikon is serial number 3 and I believe only about 30 were made before the company went tits up

I have it on good authority though that it does sound much much better than the stock steel pressed one. Apparently the AI in sole elastomer spring replacements solve the much talked about problems of pitch instability as the springs are gone and the bloody thing isn't wobbling about like a pissed up Mr Blobby. It's still driven by an elastic band though

[Lindsayt]

£150 was a sensible price for the LP12.
How much did you pay for the used Rubikon?

I think it's mildly amusing that even though the Rubikon is amateurish in some ways, it's still better engineered than the best sub-chassis and armboard that Linn could come up with between 1973 and about 2003.

[karatestu]

£150 was a sensible price for the LP12.
How much did you pay for the used Rubikon?

I think it's mildly amusing that even though the Rubikon is amateurish in some ways, it's still better engineered than the best sub-chassis and armboard that Linn could come up with between 1973 and about 2003.

Rubikon was £550 I think. It was nearly eight years ago. Been sat in a cupboard all that time

Amateurish It was better than a Keel according to the manufacturer Some people would have you believe anything

I think Linn have spouted absolute bollox over the years. There are so many examples of said bollox when they proclaim their designs are the best and then change it to something different which is also the best thing ever.

[antonio66]

Well that's a surprise, never thought your LP12 would see the light of day again.
Maybe when you purchased the Rubicon you never received longer bolts and a washer?
Look forward to your thoughts when you get the Aro and Argo fitted, and if you don't like it get it up for sale, must be worth £2k plus, and you could grab one of those Technics at £999.

[antonio66]

Well that's a surprise, never thought your LP12 would see the light of day again.
Maybe when you purchased the Rubicon you never received longer bolts and a washer?
Look forward to your thoughts when you get the Aro and Argo fitted, and if you don't like it get it up for sale, must be worth £2k plus, and you could grab one of those Technics at £999.

I hate selling things because I find the process really stressful and end up under valuing everything. I am from a Yorkshire Farming family who's favourite saying is "it cost how much ?"

It took a bit work to get the accumulated dust off the bloody thing. The Naim Aro mounting isn't ideal and I don't know if my washer compromises anything. It seems very sturdy but you (I) always get little voices chipping away at the back of my head that something is not optimum. The Aro when mounted on the wood composite Linn armboard was tightened so much it made an impression on both sides. Must have been recommended to do it up Linn tight it came off easy enough though.

Who knows what this thing is going to sound like, it's a bit of a Franken deck. As ever there are opinions on these decks which are as wide apart as the North and South poles and that is before you start chucking third party parts at it. There will be NO MORE money spent on this deck apart from oil, a new mat and a belt ( no, not a £50 Linn belt ).

I really am hoping that these Anologue Innovation in sole spring replacements are a game changer and enable me to enjoy all my records not just a select few although looking back I don't remember ever disliking the music I was presented with. I think I am again in the position of making it sound the best I can with what I already have available to me. Any tweaks and mods will be done in a way that can be reversed and the deck can go back to stock if needs be (for sale purposes).

[Fretless]

Any LP12 will sell for silly money these days. See it as an investment.

[CN211276]

Any LP12 will sell for silly money these days. See it as an investment.

+1
Judging by the amount of enthusiasm from the brain washed on some forums you will be laughing all the way to the bank. Interested in your comments when it is up and running.